Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-08-12
THE ACE OF HEARTS.

t'Russians are devils,'' said Boris Mir
skow to me the other day; s'half civil
lied, half human. their brains are con-
structed differently from the rest of the
world, and they've a passionate, ferocious
way Of looking at, yes, and of treating
men and things that amaze even those
who know them well.''
"And you say this of your own country
and countrymen?"
eyes" he repeated, II do;" and yet if
ever there was Russian completely I'M
Russianized, Muscovite in whom you
would find no trace of the Cossack, a Cos
sack in whom you would find no trace of
the bear, it was this same big, blonde,
tender hearted Boris Mirskow, with face
like woman's and the courage of a lion.
And how he had deceived us at first with
that appearance of artless effeminacy-
for no one in all st. Petersburg had been
the hero of so many and thrilling adven-
lures as this careless and light hearted
fellow.
"You know the Prince de B." he
continued, still bent on convincing me that
he was right, Eat least by reputation, and
that, although a complete invalid and
nailed to his chair, he was the most in
NtUtIdUc SttuIUlCI, dllll llNGU Duu 1Ol UuS
qualification of his absorbing passion.
With scarcely strength enough in his
feeble hands to hold or throw the cards in
return, his head was cool and his mind as
clear as a crystal In Short he was past
master of the art, particularly of the in
tricacies Of ecarte, that fascinating game
in which the player finds himself evenly
balanced between. skill and the turns of
chance-a Won Moltke at cards, as the
princess, his wife, was Won Moltke at
generalship and Irritation; you remember
her, of course'
"Of course" I responded, ''who does
not?''
sBut not, as you were absent at the
time" he interrupted, "the history of her
husbands death and my promotion to
favor. 1 was the twentieth-yes, IN
doubtedly the wentieth-adorer, even
leaving out some notable ones who figured
only on the suspected list. Still, shall
not reproach her-no, heaven keep me
from that! for, living the life she did, and
with such a husband, it was scarcely to be
wondered at that she drifted into the cur
rent, like the rest Of her idle and fashion
able world Neither did it seem as if the
prince objected to the character of his
wife's amusements; taking everything
with the emotionless passivity of philoso-
pher, he appeared never to see OR care for
what went on about him. Certainly he
never disturbed himself. Life is like
cards, he would frequently say; 'one is
not robbed who does not know that he has
been cheated
''However," said Boris, with laugh,
stperhaps the Prince de b. knew, as
well as the rest of us knew, that while
the princess conducted herself badly in
one way she conducted herself well in
another, and though not actually able to
save appearances, she avoided all scandal;
in fact, leaped from fancy to fancy with
the ease and grace of an accomplished
Won Moltke of gaming, the wife was the
Robert Houdin of affaires glamour.
cit was malevolence-the malevolence
of another women, as, of course, it goes
without saying, that brought about the
catastrophe at last. The Princess de
b, at the time when as I tell you I
had been taken into favor and was fever
ishly signing at her feet, had in her ser
vice, as confidential waiting maid and
body guard, young girl by the name of
Olga, a tzigane, devoted as a fettered
panther devoted, yes, but alas, still
panther! Why it is impossible for me to
say, for have never known the reason,
but I was convinced that this girl de-
tested me with an intensity of hate that
showed itself in every look and gesture
and in the leaping fame Of her yellow and
tigerish eyes.
1.-THE princess only laughed at me when
I spoke of this impression to her, and until
too late regarded it as an enchanting joke
zone evening, as Olga came as usual to
open the private entrance by which all
visitors were admitted to the shrine of the
princess, she stopped me at the door.
'I have something to say to you,
Mons. Mirskow,' she said, something i'm
portant, and to which you must listen
every we'll, said I, go on
"Tt is this-you must no longer come
to visit my mistress, the Princess de
B.
''My only answer was burst of laugh
ter.
CT am serious, she insisted, with
threatening flash from the wicked eyes;
why doesn't matter, but you must come
here no more
''Belieting that she had INDUCED too
freely in koumyss, OF was not quite right
in the head, pushed her aside gently, in
dulgent to her supposed drunkenness, and
doir of Nine. de B., hearing as 1
passed from sight the savage accent of
Olga's voice calling after me: You will
repent this, M. de Mirskow-repent it
bitterlyI
can hour afterward as I was still laugh.
ing about it with the princess, sitting beside
her on the great fur covered divan upon
which it was her within always to lounge
when receiving the favored one, a sudden
clamor arose in the little salon that came
between the boudoir and the bedchamber
beyond it. 1t sounded like the crying of
an angry ANIMAL and the noise of strug-
Cling footsteps and of wrangling.
"'The prince, my husband, cried Eliza
in establishment and starting to her feet;
what in the world can have happened?'
Sin the meantime the clamor was draw
ing nearer; we could plainly distinguish
the voice of the Prince de B. protest.
ing angrily:
"'You are mad, tell you-positively
crazy. Go away! let me alonen
"But above everything else the furious
falsetto of a woman's voice:
" you shall seeF it persisted you
shall see-everybody shall see. tell you
that he is madame the princess lover!'
and with sudden push the door leading
into the DOudOlr was thrown back. About
a dozen people, friends and servants of the
house, stood upon the Threshold and in
the midst of them Olga, the tzigane, the
Prince de B held aloft in her arms
lilo an infant
"Everything had passed so quickly that
had no time, even if had wished it, to
conceal myself, and at glance compre-
hended the situation. The girl had evil
Ja,+1r froDa RI har m ctnr with cto,,x, Of
the way his wife amused herself, and in q
fit of rage at his refusal to credit her had
picked him up bodily and by main force
had brought him here to confirm her
words.
octave you seen it, my prince-have
you seen its' she yelled, as she flung him
like a leaf upon the sofa.
"sTake her into custody was the
nrinca,s only reply. pointing to OLGA and